Butterfly Bayou (Butterfly Bayou 1)

Lisa finally gave him a half smile that didn’t hold a hint of judgement. “I lived with her most of my life. Trust me. She’ll love it if you can get her to try it. It’s a leftover from our childhood. We never had a ton of food and she had to eat stuff she didn’t like. Now she almost always ends up ordering the same thing because in the back of her head she’s afraid she won’t like it and she’ll go hungry. She’ll eat steak and salad and chicken breasts and nothing else if you let her. I managed to talk her into jambalaya the other day. It was the blandest jambalaya ever, and I had to promise our chef that he could start having a chef’s special once a month to get him to actually make it. She’s now had it three times, and I’ve been gently pumping up the spice.”

“She did mention that the last batch she had was the best,” Remy admitted.

He couldn’t stand the thought that she’d been a hungry child. She was so put together as an adult it was hard to believe her childhood had been rough. Of course, sometimes the roughest places turned out to be the most beautiful. It took time and pressure to create a diamond.

Well, if she hated it, he could always make another pot. He couldn’t blame Lisa for easing her into the coffee. Wasn’t he trying to ease her into a relationship?

Lisa took over. “Why don’t you see if she’s got some bread for toast and I’ll make breakfast. That way you’ve got total deniability. Now give me an update.”

Lila’s sister was a force of nature. He backed off. He wouldn’t mind a little deniability, and he would like it if he didn’t have to make two pots of coffee every morning because they couldn’t stand to drink the same one. If he could get her to half and half, he would compromise. “Rene is coming home today. Janice will be in the hospital a couple of days. The baby is fine. None of them would have survived if your sister hadn’t been there.”

“Is she okay?” Lisa asked.

There was no question who she was talking about. “She had a rough day, but she’s all right.”

“She bottles things up. She won’t even acknowledge that anything is bothering her,” Lisa explained. “You have to push her to get her to talk about it, and even then, she might not tell you anything.”

“She’s all right, Lisa. She had a good long cry and she managed to get some sleep.” She’d also wrapped herself around him. She’d held on to him while she’d cried, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt as good as he had when she’d needed him.

Remy and Lisa both stopped, staring at him.

“Lila cried?” Remy asked.

“Lila rarely cries. Never in front of anyone but her family.” Lisa glanced back at the bedroom. “Well, there was the once, but that was more like a total breakdown, and she had her reasons for it.”

“Well, she had a good cry last night, and I think she’s feeling better now.” He wasn’t going to tell Lisa that her sister had a nightmare. He probably shouldn’t have told her anything, but she seemed so worried. “Are the rumors already flying? What exactly is being said?”

He knew the way the gossip mill worked in town. A big event like this would be talked about for years, and it would take that long for some people to get the facts right. Oh, it would start out with eyewitness accounts, but it would roll downhill from there.

Remy chuckled as he sat down at the small bistro table. “Well, the way Sera told it, Janice had a heart attack while she was driving and Rene was in the way. The baby choked on a teething biscuit and Lila saved the day. My momma heard it a bit differently.”

Delphine Dellacourt Guidry was one of the town’s eccentrics. “Good lord. Tell me.”

Lisa looked far more cheerful now that she knew her sister was all right. She pressed the button to start the coffeemaker. “Janice tried to run Rene down because he wouldn’t marry Hallie all those years ago. Hallie was forced to marry an outsider because Rene spurned her. Janice saw him on the street walking by and her rage flashed through her and she was out of control. In that particular scenario, Lila and Rene made an obvious connection and that’s why she saved him first. There also might have been mention of some hoodoo Rene worked to make himself attractive to all women. I think he should have used the hoodoo to make his bones a little stronger.”

“She saved him first because she got to him first. Tell me they’re not matching Lila up with Rene.” That wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter that Rene was a better match, damn it. He didn’t care that Rene was incredibly wealthy and could give her a life of ease. Or that Rene was arguably handsomer. And younger. And without a kid who would need help for the rest of her life. Lila was his. He’d seen her first and he’d gotten his hands on her first, and Rene could deal with it.